He said: "The UK is already being manoeuvred out of opportunities to participate in the next generation.

"The real danger is that, even if the UK negotiates a position to participate in Galileo, the die will have been cast; the industrial consortia for the next generation will have been established and, even if we were to try to re-enter later in the game, it would be an almost impossible uphill struggle."

So far, SSTL has received almost £400 million from the Galileo project since 2010 and the loss of future revenue could pose a serious problem for the business, which employs around 400 people.